GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE DECEMBER 10, 1993

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ENTERTAINMENT

Revival of '60s work keeps its poetic strength

Reviewed by Barry Daniels

The 1966 production of Jean-Claude van Itallie's America Hurrah was a landmark in the history of the experimental theater of the 1960s. It embodied the theatrical explorations of non-realistic expression as well as the rebellious social consciousness and the political activism of its period. Shortly after it closed its long off-Broadway run, America Hurrah was performed in Cleveland as part of Dobama Theatre's first season in its Coventry theater. Donald Bianchi, who staged that 1969 production, has co-directed with Ron Newell an excellent revival to commemorate Dobama's 25th anniversary on Coventry.

Interview is the first of the three one-act plays that make up America Hurrah. It takes a job interview situation and breaks it down to reveal the different psychological dynamics at play. Bianchi and Newell are especially good at capturing the sculptural and poetic qualities of van Itallie's language in the first part of this play. In the more diffuse second part, the actors successfully handle rapid transformations and imaginatively create a variety of different environments in which actors are used as scenery and props: 14th Street, a church, a hospital, a psychiatrist's office, a switchboard, etc.

The second play, TV, takes place in a TV studio viewing room. Two males are vying for the affections of the female on the staff. Hal, the younger man is simply interested in getting laid, while George, the older man, is married and seems to be in mid-life crisis. Van Itallie allows the characters' social masks to crack as the violence of their emotional warfare escalates. Five actors dressed in grey perform the TV scenes being watched in the viewing room. Gradually the TV world and the real world get helplessly entwined. Bianchi

and Newell make wonderful use of the theater space and surround the audience with the action. The performances are sharp and lively.

Motel, the third play, is a short poetic tour de force about the random violence in our world. The Motel-Keeper, an oversized puppet, intones a monologue in the motel room while two puppet guests go about the total destruction of the room. The Motel-Keeper's voice

HERBERT ASCHERMAN, JR.

Cast members David Hoffman, John Beeker, Jeanne Task (back row), Elizabeth Quinn, Robert J. Williams, Sonya Robbins, Laura Perrotta, and Ivan Wolpaw team up for the revival of America Hurrah.

is recorded and drones through speakers behind the audience. Music, action and language build to an image of chaos: a garish, neon-lit, consumer society gone berserk.

Van Itallie was one of the playwrights of the Open Theatre, one of the most important collaborative ensembles of the 1960s. The original production of America Hurrah made use of this group's explorations into the possibilities for acting to reveal the different hidden structures in social interaction. Much of Interview and TV are still successful at doing this. The eight actors in the Dobama production display a great range and versatility, and it is a sign of the generosity of the writing and of this kind of ensemble work that no individual actor is allowed to dominate.

Bianchi and Newell use sixties music and recordings of political figures-JFK and Malcolm X-during the pre-show and intermissions. This helps place America Hurrah in its historical context, but it gives the evening

an odd kind of nostalgic charm, at least for those of us who lived through the sixties. What can't be recaptured, of course, and what the production lacks, is the revolutionary energy and optimism of the original work. What was once a bold statement about society and about the art of theater is now a slightly offbeat entertainment. It is saved from the trivial by the very real insights it provides into human psychology and by the poetic strength of van Itallie's language. In our own theatrical landscape, so oppressively dominated by the bland work at the Play House, the Dobama production of America Hurrah reminds us that theater can explore our world in imaginative ways.

America Hurrah continues through December 19. Performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $8 on Thursday and Sunday and $10 on Friday and Saturday with a $2 discount for students and seniors. For reservations telephone 932-6838.

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CPT's 12th Festival of New Plays is set for January, and auditions are taking place Monday and Tuesday, December 13 and 14, at 7 pm. Needed are roughly 100 actors and actresses of all ages, races and nationalities to take part in these staged readings of neverbefore-produced plays by local and national playwrights.

Each play will be rehearsed complete with a director, set, props and lights and will be presented twice, script in hand, during the Festival of New Plays, January 14-30, 1994. No reservations are needed to audition, no prepared piece is needed either. So rush down...don't pass up your opportunity to be in the spotlight.

Cleveland Public Theatre is located at 6415 Detroit Ave., at W. 65th St., just a few minutes ride from Public Square. For information, telephone 631-2727.

The Cleveland Theatre Company has recently announced its fifth season which opens with a production of Christmas with Dickens, featuring Wayne Turney as Charles Dickens reading from a selection of his works. Performances continue through December

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24, Thursday-Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 7:30pm. Tickets are $14 and $12 (students/ seniors). Reduced price subscriptions are available to the season which includes the Summer Classical Theatre Festival productions of King Lear and I Stand Before You Naked by Joyce Carol Oates. Performances will be in the Factory Theatre at Cleveland State University. For reservations and subscription information phone 371-4333.

The Great Lakes Theatre Festival Company will stage a benefit cabaret, High Spirits, to help fight AIDS. In addition to holiday music and outrageous comedy, there will be a cash bar and a "Great Gifts" silent auction of priceless theater memorabilia including a wristwatch from the film Philadelphia, autographed by Tom Hanks, and a Christmas Eve "tuck-in" by Scrooge himself. Performances are at 10 pm on December 16 and 17 in the rehearsal hall of the State Theatre. A donation of $25 is requested at the door. Proceeds will go to the Health Issues Taskforce and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. For reservations telephone 734-7788.

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